The dendric cell is one of the strongest cells among the antigen-presenting cells that play important roles in priming of naive T cells, and the like. In view of this, application of dendritic cells pulsed with an antigen to cancer immunotherapy has been proposed (WO1995/034638).
On the other hand, cells having pluripotency, such as embryonic stem cells (ES cells), and induced pluripotent stem cells (iPS cells) obtained by introducing undifferentiated cell-specific genes into somatic cells have been reported so far (U.S. Pat. No. 5,843,780 B or WO 2007/069666). Therefore, recent interest has focused on regenerative medicine wherein dendritic cells obtained by differentiation induction of these pluripotent stem cells are transplanted, and preparation of a pathologic model in vitro using these dendritic cells.
As a method for preparing dendritic cells from ES cells or iPS cells, a method wherein an embryoid body is formed in a medium supplemented with a cytokine so as to induce dendritic cells (Zhan X, et al, Lancet. 2004, 364, 163-71), or a method wherein those cells are cultured on stromal cells derived from a different species (Senju S, et al, Stem Cells. 2007, 25, 2720-9) has been used. However, in the method wherein the induction is achieved via an embryoid body, only a part of the cells become the cells of interest, while most of the others are induced to differentiate into other cell types, resulting in a low induction efficiency. Further, in cases where cells derived from a different species are used, it is difficult to use the induced cells for transplantation. Further, in cases where a pathologic model is prepared, it is preferred to avoid use of culture conditions accompanied by uncertainties such as lot-to-lot variation, as much as possible.
However, it has not been reported so far that dendritic cells are prepared from pluripotent stem cells by a method using a medium containing only limited components without forming an embryoid body or coculturing with cells from a different species.